ABOUT JEN’S WORK

Jennifer is a psychologist, coach, mentor & trainer who provides training, workshops, assessments, coaching and mentoring for gifted people and the professionals who support them. Her work is dedicated to raising awareness about giftedness, helping gifted individuals better understand their unique mental make-up and translate that into constructing satisfying lives, and helping professionals to be better equipped to support their gifted clients in meaningful ways. She offers her services through Rediscovering Yourself and via her gifted personal development & community platform InterGifted.

JEN’S BACKGROUND

Jennifer’s studies and contributions have followed the traditionally gifted non-linear path. Originally trained in psychology, classical music, and coaching in the U.S. (Master in Counseling, Bachelor in Music and Psychology, Diploma in Life Coaching), she decided to carve out a non-conventional path, coming to settle (for now) in Europe, first Italy and now Switzerland with her husband. She has worked in business, entrepreneurship, teaching, coaching and guidance in different ways since her early 20’s. Her work and reflections have been highly influenced by her mentors and the teachings of masters of various disciplines, among others the Dalai Lama, David R. Hawkins, Eckhart Tolle, Erich Fromm, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Daniel Kahneman, David Chalmers, and Kazimierz Dabrowski.

In 2015, Jen founded InterGifted in order to help gifted people around the world connect. She also dedicates much of her time to writing on self-development for gifted people. Her extensive blog here on Rediscovering Yourself is full of helpful articles, and she writes often for InterGifted’s blog as well. She is in the process of finishing two books (under a pen name) which follow her challenging journey of growing up gifted, and is also currently working on a theoretical book called Intense Minds: Mental Complexity and the Construction of the Self, which aims to open up to a productive dialog on the positive evolution of self through the model of gifted cognition.

TRAINING, MENTORING, SUPERVISION

for Professionals Who Support the Gifted

I love to see coaches and other helping professionals dedicate their work to supporting the gifted. I train coaches, psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists, counselors, and social workers on the fundamental complex dynamics of gifted cognition and guide them to best support their gifted clients.

ASSESSMENTS FOR GIFTED ADULTS

Giftedness is not a one-size-fits-all concept. Within giftedness there are levels and flavors; and if anything else is added to giftedness, such as ADHD, Autism, learning disabilities or other similar conditions, giftedness can be very hard to fully understand. Even if one has an IQ score that “proves” one’s giftedness according to that measure, the intelligence that makes one good at IQ testing is far from the whole picture of one’s “giftedness profile”.

Assessment sessions with me are designed to help you look at the full picture of your giftedness (or possible giftedness, if you’re not sure yet): including your level and areas of giftedness, and any second exceptionalities you have and how that affects your expression of giftedness. If you have an IQ score, that can be a helpful data point for us to include in our analysis, but we are looking at a picture larger than just logico-mathematical intelligence. We are looking at a more holistic picture of how your mind takes in and organizes the world, and how that translates into your unique gifted perception, expression, challenges and opportunities.

Assessments can be done in one two-hour session; many people like to take two to three two-hour sessions in total, so that we can look more deeply into how your giftedness combines with your unique personality style, culture, family culture, educational opportunities or lack thereof, and so on, to get a more complete picture. However, one session is sufficient for a basic understanding of your level and areas of giftedness.

Many people want to continue coaching or mentoring sessions following the assessment session(s). For the highly to profoundly gifted, they may continue to work with me. I connect others with coaches from my InterGifted Coaching Network. Most like to join my InterGifted Peer Community or Highly, Exceptionally & Profoundly Gifted Group in order to connect with their gifted peers from around the world and learn more about themselves and giftedness through healthy mirroring and community participation. Essentially, in my work, I’m dedicated to helping you find the right ongoing support for living out your giftedness in the most fulfilling way possible for you, and for many that starts with an assessment.

MENTORING & COACHING

for Highly, Exceptionally & Profoundly Gifted Adults

The jumping off point for mentoring and coaching highly, exceptionally and profoundly gifted adults is never predictable: maybe it’s a pressing life question they’ve been unable to answer on their own, progress on personal development or a major project, healing from trauma, or a need to discover and understand their very unusual minds – or some combination of these and more.

Sessions are non-linear and follow where the client’s mind takes us, with guidance from me to marry meta perspectives and micro practice. It is common, but not mandatory, that sessions last several hours. They also often happen in spurts – one or several in a row followed by a pause while insights are integrated. Highly, exceptionally and profoundly gifted adults learn in meta-steps, thus a non-linear partnering which adapts to their need for comprehensive and in-depth understanding, uncommon speed and unusual thinking style is needed. If you don’t know whether you are highly, exceptionally, or profoundly gifted, read my article here or consider scheduling an assessment session to explore the question with me.

LOGISTICS & COSTS

Sessions are 200 Swiss Francs per hour. They are held virtually by Skype/phone, or in person in and around Arbon, Switzerland; in English, French or Italian. Email coaching and mentoring is billed at the same hourly rate. If these fees are prohibitive for your coaching budget, consider contacting me for a referral to one of the coaches in my InterGifted Coaching Network, many who have trained with and are mentored by me (their coaching fees range from 75 USD to 180 USD per hour).

COMMON QUESTIONS

What do you mean by “gifted coaching”?

Gifted clients range from being somewhat to extremely intense and complex – intellectually, creatively, emotionally, existentially, physically, and sensually. In family, society and work where tradition and pre-defined roles often set the standard, they can feel uncomfortable, misunderstood, or existentially panicked at the extreme. They are known to be motivated by their intense curiosity and need for continual learning, challenge, change and understanding; thus coaching that focuses on extrinsic motivation, external rewards, and traditional goals misses the mark in terms of helping a gifted client to connect to his or her own intrinsic motivation and inner sense of purpose.

Gifted coaching works at (or near) gifted clients’ level of cognition, shares their complexity of mind, and helps them channel their intensity, complexity and drive toward self-actualization. By self-actualization, I mean: meaningful existence, based on and driven by one’s self-chosen values and unique way of being in the world. We strategize in ways that continue to generate opportunities for clients to fulfill their complex needs, and stretch their minds and capacities even further. Our work together educates and validates clients’ intense minds, and ultimately gives them back full access to their own potential. Learn more about giftedness in my article on Dabrowski’s Theory of Giftedness.

You work with highly, exceptionally and profoundly gifted people. Why such a minority population?

Because of the rarity of highly, exceptionally and profoundly gifted people (1:>1,000 to <1:1 million, respectively), it is a particular challenge for this population to find the right kind of support. Statistically, they are almost out there all on their own. But they are people who deserve to get help when they need it and have support that encourages, inspires and challenges them. I struggled for years to find this support, so I understand the importance of it, and am honored to be able to provide it.

I’m not sure if I’m highly, exceptionally or profoundly gifted. How can I know?

Highly, exceptionally and profoundly gifted people think in meta-matrices (as opposed to the multi-step skipping of the mild and moderately gifted, or the linear step-by-step logic of non-gifted thinkers). They see paradoxes, puzzles and patterns everywhere, with any answer about anything generating a new series of questions. There never seems to be ground to stand on, since all knowledge is only temporary. There are huge pluses to this type of mental mapping, such as intellectual speed and capacity (as well as the fun of having so much thought to entertain oneself with); but there are also some pretty major challenges that come with it, such as fitting in socially, slowing down enough to produce transmittable work, and dealing with the mental storms that often come with such intensity of mind. Read more in my High, Exceptional and Profound Giftedness article.

I’m not highly, exceptionally or profoundly gifted. Can I still work with you?

If you are mildly or moderately gifted and working on a project or wanting to support gifted people as a coach or helping professional, yes! Tell me about your project or plans and we can see if we are a good fit to work together. If not, I will be happy to provide you a personalized referral to one of the coaches in my InterGifted Coaching Network.

JEN’S RECOMMENDED READING

Boris Cyrulnik: Resilience: How Your Inner Strength Can Set You Free from the Past

The Dalai Lama: notably An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life, How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life, The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living, and The Art of Happiness at Work

Susan Daniels & Michael M. Piechowski: Living with Intensity: Understanding the Sensitivity, Excitability and Emotional Development of Gifted Children, Adolescents, and Adults

Norman Doidge:The Brain that Changes Itself

Carol Dweck: Mindset:How You Can Fulfill Your Potential

Elio Frattaroli: Healing the Soul in the Age of the Brain: Becoming Conscious in an Unconscious World

Erich Fromm: notably To Have or To Be and The Art of Loving

Neville Goddard: Feeling is the Secret

Robert Greene: Mastery

David R. Hawkins: notablyLetting Go: The Pathway of Surrender

Gay Hendricks: Five Wishes

Jon Kabat-Zinn: notably TheGuided Mindfulness Meditation Series

Willem Kuipers:Enjoying the Gift of Being Uncommon

Daniel Kahneman:Thinking, Fast and Slow

Krishnananda Trobe: notably Stepping Out of Fear

Adam Phillips: Missing Out: In Praise of the Unlived Life

Paula Prober: Your Rainforest Mind: A Guide to the Well-Being of Gifted Adults and Youth

Come join Jen at InterGifted, the community she founded for gifted people around the world. It is a co-creative place where gifted peers work on projects together, support each other, and find healthy social mirroring. We have events, peer groups, a gifted coaching network, and lots of resources. Come join us! www.intergifted.com

Books coming soon:

Intense Minds: Mental Complexity and the Construction of the Self

What makes a mind gifted and how can a gifted person construct a healthy and effective sense of self? Jen's book is a journey through a theory which on the grand scale looks at giftedness in the context of the evolution of consciousness, and on the individual scale shows a path for how each of us can contribute to a positive evolution of consciousness by constructing healthy lives.

Memoirs

What does positive disintegration look like in the real everyday life of a highly gifted person? Jen's memoirs are a journey about discovering self-acceptance and rebuilding a positive social self from the ashes of gifted disintegration. Two books, written under a pen name.

Testimonials

“What can I say about Jennifer’s coaching work? I can’t even begin to find the words.

As a profoundly gifted adult, I have found other consultants, counsellors and psychologists to be a poor fit for my rapidly evolving and fractally intense needs. Therefore, even though I actively sought mentoring for years, I never, ever, felt genuinely helped by any of the professionals I’d spoken to. I was always left sad and disappointed and just made do with what little I got. Most of the time, I would overwhelm them with the ways and means I’d already researched, applied and tackled. Many were the times I would prepare extensively for a session, going in with all my notes, hoping to tell them, “Well, here’s what I’ve done, so I was wondering if you have anything further to suggest?” and to receive a response along the lines of, “Oh okay, well if those haven’t worked as well as you desired, here’s what more you can do.” No. In fact, every time it’s either a blank face, an overwhelmed face, a bored face, or even a threatened face, and then complete change of subject or a reversion to patent basics, again and again. It was mutually frustrating and resource depleting.

With Jennifer, however, I realised that what I needed and craved all these decades was challenge. I needed a coach who could challenge me to push my comfort zones beyond what I was capable of on my own, without a professionally neutral third-party perspective. I needed a coach who was not only as driven as I am myself to constantly evolve, self-actualise and even self-transcend, but who also approaches those goals as a profoundly gifted person would. This made such a difference to my sense of self, identity and worth, when I realised that I wasn’t wrong all these years, I was simply working with the wrong people out of sheer ignorance.

Gifted people need gifted coaches. There is no two ways about it. We need a gifted coach who can not only match our speed, intensity and diversity but who is also trained and personally experienced with all the skills and toolsets required to achieve what we desire.

Jennifer is an extremely wise, compassionate and skillful coach who not only has the professional training and capacity but also a unique kindness and genuine curiosity that allows her to connect with her gifted clients as fellow human beings, and that is a quality is so rare to find in coaches and mentors these days. My sessions with Jennifer always leave me feeling seen and heard, appreciated and supported and most importantly of all, spiritually, psychologically and practically empowered to take the next right small step toward creating the life I desire and deserve as who I am.”

Silver, www.silverhuang.com, Australia

“Jen was the right light at the right time for me. I had spent a good portion of my early adult life trying to figure myself out and how I fit into the world, and while I had made significant progress, there were missing pieces – the gifted pieces – that were keeping me stuck. Jen helped me fill in those missing pieces and ‘unlock the whole’ so that I could move forward. Without her coaching and guidance, there were aspects of myself I don’t think I would have ever embraced, let alone even recognized. Jen is an exceptional coach and human being, and should you ever have the opportunity to work with her, grab it with arms wide open!”

Kelly, Canada

“Working with Jen first in group sessions, then in individual sessions for the last three years has really helped me to continue growing as a young adult. She has coached me on how to deal with my career in general, such as communicating difficult decisions to my superior, making tough career decisions by following my passion, managing impostor syndrome, finding my personal rhythm at work and balancing it with family life. Overall, I’ve learned how to manage my time so that I have become more efficient based on my personal needs, learning how to set my boundaries towards others and gain the full authority over my life. Jen’s coaching has made a big difference in my personal development these last three years and I’d strongly recommend her coaching sessions to anyone who is interested in self- and career- development.”

J.B., France

“I learned more in three Skype sessions with Jen from halfway across the globe than I did in years of sitting in therapy. You just handed me the information that I needed (no, that I craved) and I felt like a dying tree being revived by a rainstorm. Like manna from heaven. Clarity crystallizing from out of the fog. For that, I will be forever grateful!”

Mary Ann, USA

“People believe living with high intelligence ‘is great’ and ‘makes life easy’. They have no idea what an exceptional mind can be like in everyday interaction. Words cannot express what meeting my coach Jen has meant to me. Finally, my thoughts, feelings and abilities were allowed to exist. A couple of sessions has helped me more than years of traditional coaching and support. This is the first time I have met a person who can understand my mind and my abilities; explain needs and ways to work. It has been a huge help in my professional life. Jen is the first person who acknowledged just how different my mind is. If you are on the higher range of giftedness, I can highly recommend this service. I feel like an extremely rare, colorful bird finally released into its natural habitat.”

InterGifted is a global community for gifted people, founded by Jennifer Harvey Sallin. We connect professionally and personally via group conversations, peer collaborations, peer interest groups, a coaching network for gifted people, and other inspiring and unconventional events and projects. Learn more and connect with us atwww.intergifted.com!